Two Jewish Lawyers Expected to Be Named to Attorney General Post

For the first time in American history, two Jewish lawyers in the near future are expected to be given the post successively of Attorney General of the United States. President Ford formally announced yesterday that he would nominate Edward H. Levi, president of the University of Chicago since 1968, to be Attorney General in succession to former Ohio Senator William B. Saxbe who has been named Ambassador to India.

In the contingency that Saxbe’s nomination will be approved by the Senate prior to Levi’s, which is most likely, the rank of Acting Attorney General will be conferred upon Lawrence Silberman, the present Deputy Attorney General, the White House said.

Silberman, who at 38 became the second youngest person ever to be named to the second highest post in the Justice Department, has been asked by President Ford to continue as Deputy when Levi becomes Attorney General, the White House also announced.

Silberman at 34 became the nation’s youngest Under-Secretary of Labor in history. He became Deputy Attorney General last March. He is a graduate of Dartmouth and Harvard Law School. He is a member of the American Jewish Committee and lives with his wife, the former Rosalie Gaull and three children in Bethesda, Md. He was born in York, Ohio.

Dr. Levi, who was dean of the University of Chicago Law School from 1950 to 1962, before becoming the university’s provost for six years, was born in Chicago June 26, 1911. He is a graduate of Chicago and Yale Universities. Dr. Levi is the son of Elsa Hirsch and Gerson B. Levi. He and his wife, formerly Kate Sulzberger Hecht, have three sons. Among honorary degrees conferred upon Dr. Levi are those from Hebrew Union College, Jewish Theological Seminary of America, and Brandeis University. The White House said he has “no known” political affiliations.